Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) - Donald Trump resigned from the board of debt-laden Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. as bondholders weighed forcing the casino company he founded into involuntary bankruptcy next week.

âI have nothing to do with it. Iâm not in it, Iâm not on the board,â Trump, who was chairman, said in a telephone interview yesterday. He said he had âno ideaâ whether there will be a bankruptcy filing.

Trumpâs departure comes ahead of a Feb. 17 deadline to make a $53 million bond payment first due on Dec. 1. The target has been extended four times since an initial grace period ended Dec. 31. Bondholders are planning to force Trump Entertainment into Chapter 11 bankruptcy early next week, the Wall Street Journal said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Trump controls 28 percent of the stock, according to a March 21 regulatory filing. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, also resigned, according to an e-mailed statement.

âI strongly disagree with the bondholdersâ decisions and actions,â Trump said in the statement without elaborating.

Tom Hickey, a spokesman for Trump Entertainment, and Chief Financial Officer John Burke didnât return phone messages left after normal business hours.

âUnless weâre going to be responsible for management itâs just not something thatâs worthwhile,â Trump, 62, said in the interview. The Atlantic City, New Jersey-based casino operator said in December it needed to conserve cash and hold debt- restructuring talks with lenders.

âItâs a Disasterâ

Trump said the fate of Atlantic Cityâs Tropicana Casino Hotel and the under-construction Revel Entertainment LLC project factored into his decision to leave Trump Entertainment.

âItâs a disaster and I see whatâs happened with so many others, and I donât want to be a part of it,â Trump said.

Tropicana Entertainment LLC was pushed into bankruptcy after being stripped of its New Jersey gambling license. State officials said in December 2007 that the Tropicana Casino Hotelâs service and cleanliness had declined and the property wasnât being run according to state regulations.

Revel Entertainment last month suspended interior work, unable to secure needed financing to finish construction at the 20-acre boardwalk site. Revel had been scheduled to open mid- 2010.

Trump is ânot thrilledâ the company may continue to use his name, he said.

Trump Entertainmentâs three casinos have been through bankruptcy twice. Holders of most of companyâs $1.25 billion in notes and Beal Bank Nevada, which is owed $490 million, have agreed not to exercise default rights for interest or principal payments until 9 a.m. New York time on Feb. 17.

âBad Decisionsâ

The companyâs market value has tumbled to $7.3 million from its peak at $842 million in August 2005.

Trump Entertainmentâs 8.5 percent notes due June 2015 traded at 14 cents on the dollar yesterday, according to Trace, the bond-pricing system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Bondholder representatives âhave made a series of bad decisions and encouraged wasteful spending, which has led to severe problems within the company,â Trump said in the statement. âThe company is no longer operated to a standard consistent with other of my holdings.â

Trump offered to buy the rest of the company and was turned down by bondholders, according to the statement. Legal and consulting fees âwill suck the blood from the companyâ as Atlantic City âtanks and competition from local markets grows,â he said.

Atlantic City

Gambling revenue in the seaside resort city fell a record 7.6 percent in 2008, the second straight annual decline as the recession deterred some gamblers, and slot-machine competition from nearby states wooed others. The decline continued in January, with revenue down 9.4 percent.

MGM Mirage last year shelved its planned Atlantic City development, and real-estate developer Curtis Bashaw and former Caesars Entertainment Inc. chief Wally Barr withdrew their building application for a casino resort last month.

Penn National Gaming Inc. said Feb. 5 it wonât exercise its option to buy a 23-acre site in Atlantic City, citing the revenue declines and future competition from Las Vegas Sandsâ under- construction casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and expectations Philadelphia will open casinos.

Past Bankruptcy

Trump Entertainment emerged from bankruptcy 3 1/2 years ago. Its predecessor, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., sought court protection in November 2004. It had lost money for nine years because of high interest payments that Trump claimed prevented the company from refurbishing and expanding its casinos.

The three casino resorts also went through bankruptcy in the 1990s.

Trump Entertainment said Oct. 28 that it renegotiated the sale of its Trump Marina to Coastal Marina LLC down to $270 million, from the $316 million agreed upon in May, after the buyer missed a financing deadline.